A Flash of Silver
by reallyfreakingnerdy
Summary: Neglected by his parents and hated by the villagers of Konoha, Naruto is cast away. Reborn as a mercenary he will strive for a place to call his own. Harem, somewhat AU, Alive Minato and Kushina.
1. Death

**A/N What's good? I've been wanting to write my own original story for a while now and this is my first attempt. This will be a genius Naruto with abilities from the game Dark Sector. Not a crossover though, he will only have the abilities from it so no characters or other such things from that game. I actually cannibalized another story I was working on to create this because I didn't like how it was turning out. **

**It will be a Harem, so yeah. Taking suggestions on who else to put in though (Hinata, Anko and Hanabi are locked in).**

**I do not own Naruto or Dark Sector or really anything. Which is why I'm writing fanfiction.**

**Read, Review and Question. Seriously, I need your thoughts on this otherwise I may just scrap it and try to find another idea.**

**I will continue my work on Elemental Casanova so don't worry, I just wanted a change of pace.**

**"**People Talking"

_'People thinking'_

**"Bijuu speaking**

_**'Bijuu thinking'**_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

***Konoha, eight years after the Kyuubi attack***

A small silver haired boy was running frantically through the forest that surrounded Konoha as he cautiously looked behind to see if his pursuers were still on his tail. He was a very cute child, well he would have been if he wasn't so malnourished and covered in wounds from a recent mob attack. This is our hero Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. Twin brother of Naruko Uzumaki-Namikaze (well, as far as she knew…) and son of the yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze. Why was Naruto running into a forest after a mob beating? The answer was quite simple; during the attack by the Kyuubi no Kitsune the sandiame Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto and Naruko. He sealed it's chakra into Naruko and its soul into Naruto. This allowed Minato and Kushina to survive the attack and raise their children.

While it seemed like a good ending, the ramifications of Sarutobi's sacrifice quickly settled in. While Naruko was seen as a hero for taking the Kyuubi's chakra (and thus getting a powerful boost from it that would make her an absolute powerhouse later in life), Naruto was seen as a living reminder of the Kyuubi since he housed its soul (it didn't help that his hair changed color and he gained whisker marks unlike Naruko who was a carbon copy of Kushina). Because of her perceived higher potential, Minato and Kushina took more of an interest in Naruko and thus slowly began neglecting Naruto. Nowadays Naruto could leave for a day and return home battered and bruised and his parents wouldn't even notice. The only person who really ever paid attention to Naruto in the Namikaze-Uzumaki household was Naruko who 'loved her onii-chan the mostest!' in her own words.

In order to deal with his loneliness Naruto sought out others for comfort leading to him befriending the Hyuga clan heir Hinata (he had helped her with a trio of bullies when her guardian wasn't around) and subsequently becoming a fixture at her clan compound (Hiashi and his wife Hitomi had a falling out with Minato and Kushina over Naruto's treatment). Hinata would try to spend as much time as possible with him and even her younger sister Hanabi would constantly try to garner his attention and affection. The other person to help Naruto with his loneliness was a young girl named Anko Mitarashi. She too was treated badly because of her being the student of the traitor Orochimaru. They met when Naruto witnessed a couple of drunken civilians throwing bottles and insults at her one day and Naruto, after getting his anger under control, started to throw rather heavy rocks at them (the civilians would wake up the next day with fractured skulls and no memory of the prior day). Anko was surprised by this gesture and took the young boy out for some dango. The two had been close ever since. On a sidenote, Anko was then introduced to Hitomi Hyuga who took her under her wing and thus Anko too became part of the Hyuga household over time.

Unfortunately, neither party could always look after Naruto so he was still attacked from time to time by mobs of civilians with the occasional shinobi thrown in. That was why he was in the forest, it served as a bit of a sanctuary for him (for some reason he found he could speak with the foxes that inhabited the area) since no one would follow him after a while. Too bad for Naruto, today would be different…

"I-I think I lost them." Naruto said while trying to stay upright as his body was wracked with huffs and pants. He never noticed the presence of the grey haired chunin, Mizuki. Mizuki hated Naruto with a passion since he blamed him for the death of his girlfriend eight years ago. It helped that the civilian council was paying him quite handsomely for what he was about to do too. Sneaking up behind the young boy, Mizuki knocked him unconscious with a brutal punch to the back of the head.

"Heh, not too strong now are you? You demonic piece of shit." Mizuki growled out as he picked up Naruto and walked further into the forest.

***Several hours later, at the edge of a swift running river***

"Time to be rid of you demon." Mizuki said as he smirked and threw the tied up Naruto into the river. Only staying long enough to watch him awaken in a panic due to the cold water and start frantically trying to get out of his bindings as he was swept away under the river, almost being assured a cruel death. Feeling immensely satisfied with himself, Mizuki started to travel back to the village in order to celebrate. He had quite a sum of money waiting for him after all.

***In the Council room, Konoha around noon the next day***

Minato Namikaze was staring into space as a civilian council member rambled on and on over some stupid ordinance they wanted. He managed to figure out the secret to defeating paperwork yet he still couldn't figure out how to deal with these assholes!? As he berated himself a bit more, the nagging feeling of something not being quite right kept coming to the forefront of his mind. Recently he had heard rumors of his son Naruto getting attacked by mobs and his own shinobi but he had dismissed that quickly enough. Who would be stupid enough to attack the Hokage's son? Besides, surely his own shinobi would have enough respect for him and the sandiame's sacrifice to regard Naruto as a hero like they did Naruko. As he thought on Naruto, Minato felt a wave of depression hit him. Not long ago he realized how much he had been neglecting Naruto and it was eating away at him. Kushina had also realized this and both had decided to fix this as soon as possible; in fact he had planned to personally start Naruto's shinobi training today after this meeting.

After several more hours the meeting finally ended and Minato rushed home in order to see his son. But the moment he entered his home he could hear his wife Kushina frantically running around and his daughter Naruko crying hysterically. Being incredibly alarmed he rushed to the living room of his home as he saw Kushina yelling at an Anbu.

"Kushi-chan? What's going on?"

"Mina-kun! Naruto-chan never came home yesterday! No one has seen him since yesterday either!" she blurted out in a rush as Naruko continued to cry herself hoarse. That foreboding feeling coming back in full force, Minato immediately ordered for the entire village to be turned inside out in the search for his son. This would prove to be the longest day he's had since the Kyuubi attack.

***With Naruto, washed up on the side of the river***

Naruto had somehow survived being washed away while tied up, although he was suffering from multiple broken bones from being thrown around like a ragdoll. He was now laying on the riverbank as he drifted in and out of consciousness. _'Why do they all hate me?'_ was his final thought before drifting off into unconsciousness.

***Naruto's mindscape***

Naruto awoke with a start as he viewed the sewer around him. _'But I thought I was on a riverbank…?' _he confusedly thought as he continued down the sewer. As he walked for what felt like hours he felt a strange pull that made him wish to run with wild abandon towards it. Reining in this feeling he followed the pull until he came upon a massive cage in an even more massive cave with a seal on the middlemost bar.

"**Hmm, it seems I have company."** A deep, powerful voice sounded as Naruto frantically looked around but was met by nothing but the bars of the cage and the velvet darkness that obscured his vision when he tried to peer deeper into the cage.

"W-w-who's there!?" he frantically said, an edge of fear creeping into his voice.

"**Look closer kit…"** Naruto followed the strange voices' advice and strained his eyes to peer into the darkness until suddenly, a pair of massive malice filled eyes stared back at him. Understandably frightened, Naruto jumped backwards and tried to crawl away but hit the cave wall. **"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! That was hilarious!"** said the voice as the darkness started to lift and the form of a giant, red furred, nine-tailed fox was revealed.

"Kyuubi…" Naruto whispered in horrified awe. Everyone knew of Kyuubi and of the sandiame's sacrifice to take the fox with him. It seemed there was a bit more to it than that though... "Why are you here? Where is here? Tell me!" Naruto yelled.

"**Such a mouthy brat. Calm down before I get angry..." **Naruto instantly calmed down and tried not to enrage the giant fox by mouthing off. **"…We are in your mind. I'm here because killing an immortal chakra beast is more complicated than just doing a few handsigns and hoping for the best. I've been sealed into you kit, well my soul was sealed into you while the chakra is in your former sister, we are now together until you kick the bucket." **

"Are you why most of the villagers hate me? And what do you mean by 'former' sister?" Naruto asked in a heartbreaking tone.

"**Yes to the hatred. And I say former because without my chakra as a buffer, my soul has been warping your body. Fundamentally changing it so that it will be able to take the strain of such a corruptive thing as I. Basically, you aren't exactly human anymore and your so-called 'family' isn't related to you anymore than a human is to an ape." **Kyuubi said with obvious pride at the corruptive powers of a bijuu's soul.

"So I'm just a monster?" Naruto asked with hysteria starting to grip his heart as he felt his world crumbling around him.

"**You should know better than to think of everything in such shades of black and white." **Kyuubi said while curling up into a more comfortable position. Naruto realized the fox was right, he had never done anything that made him evil yet the 'upstanding' civilians of the leaf often attacked him.

"Y-yeah. Thanks Kyuubi. So what happens now?"

"**Hmm, how about a deal kit? Your body is changing and I can guide those changes so that they will be beneficial instead of a massive gamble. I can also guide you in the arts of warfare and survival."**

"I can understand the body changing thing but how do you know about the way humans fight?"

"**I've been alive for a very long time kit. And let's leave it at that. So, do we have a deal?"**

"Depends. What do you get out of this?" Naruto shrewdly asked.

"**Heheh, smart move in asking kit. I would've turned you into an insane little murder machine that never rested otherwise. What I want is simple, there is a man out there that has caused me more problems than anyone else I have ever had the displeasure of knowing. You are to track him down and kill him. That is all."**

"Seems rather simple… Okay, I agree to this deal." Naruto said after taking a moment to think on it.

"**Good. Let us get started. Now I need you to die." **Kyuubi said in a rather happy tone.

"What?" was Naruto's eloquent response before the world around him crumbled away and all he saw was darkness.

***Several days later, Konoha***

Minato hadn't slept in days as he ran himself ragged looking for any lead on Naruto. He even recalled his sensei Jiraiya from his normal spymaster duties to look for Naruto but alas there was nothing. Kushina herself found her time divided between consoling a now near permanently crying Naruko and looking for Naruto. Together, Kushina and Minato had found the ugly truth behind their neglect. Faced with the homicidal anger of two kage level shinobi anyone who was questioned confessed to how Naruto was treated by the village. At first the civilian council tried to object to this questioning of civilians but this was remedied when one council member opened his fat mouth and, in a colossal moment of stupidity, bragged about how they dealt with the 'demon' in honor of the late sandiame.

After a brutal slaughter of the civilian council, Minato started a purge of the civilians associated with the council and any shinobi with similar leanings. This uncovered quite a bit of corruption previously kept buried underneath layers of complex wording and loopholes in the law. He had never been so ashamed of his village. The once idealistic leader found himself growing cynical in his sleep deprived state and was wondering why he even bothered with these ungrateful piles of shit. But through all this he pushed on, and through judicious use of several unsavory methods, finally had his sights on a cowering Mizuki.

The two were alone in one of the dirtier rooms in the Torture and Interrogation department ('dirt' in this case referring to the mass amounts of dried blood covering the room and several instruments of the trade). Mizuki had been captured trying to flee with a minor fortune sealed into a scroll after Minato had ordered a lockdown of the village. After politely asking several civilians Mizuki was known to be friendly with, Minato now had a sneaking suspicion Mizuki had a rather large hand in his son's disappearance. Mizuki was now tied to a chair with his chakra sealed off.

"Mizuki, where did you get the money?" Minato asked, deciding to go with a straightforward approach.

"From my duties as a shinobi yondaime-sama." Mizuki said while trying to ape an air of calm and failing miserably as sweat poured off of him.

"Lies. You have not been on enough missions to see the amount of money you had on you. In fact, the only people in the village with that kind of money would either be the clan heads _or _the now dead civilian council."

"I-I-I inherited it?"

"From who?" At this Mizuki merely looked away and mumbled incoherently. Minato, deciding to give him some _incentive_ on speaking, withdrew one of his signature tri-pronged kunai and quickly used it to sever the pinky and ring fingers on his left hand.

"AAAAHHH!" he yelled in pain as Minato adopted an apathetic look on his face.

"Talk."

"I-I don't know remember."

"Wrong." Minato said as he cut off the remaining fingers on Mizuki's left hand. Mizuki, understandably, screamed for several minutes as he felt the pain of losing all of the fingers on his left hand. "Talk." Minato once again said.

"I-I was paid by a civilian council member." Mizuki said as he squirmed in pain.

"For what?" Minato said as Mizuki once again went silent. This was fixed by Minato gathering katon chakra into his kunai and cauterizing the small stumps where his fingers used to be on his left hand.

"To be rid of the demon! Please! Just stop!"

"What. Did. You. Do. With. MY SON!?" Minato yelled out with a bestial fury, each word punctuated with a brutal bone breaking punch to Mizuki's ribs or arms.

"AAAH! I tied him up and threw him into a river!" Mizuki cried out. Hearing this, Minato took out a map and had Mizuki point out where he did this and describe the surroundings.

Satisfied with this information, Minato walked out of the room and left a message for Ibiki on Mizuki's further treatment; make him regret living.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**A/N And there it goes. I personally hate beginning chapters so I compressed this as much as I could so I could get into the meat of this story instead of using half a dozen chapters to get to this point. **

**Read, Review and Question. **


	2. Rebirth

**A/N Yo. Here's chapter 2. I think I may release one more chapter of this before updating The Elemental Casanova, not sure though. Tell me what you think, and if you are wondering yes. Haku is now locked into the harem. Please continue sending me your thoughts on who should be in Naruto's harem and some reasons you think it would work in A Flash of Silver. **

**And if you want Naruko in the harem please say so since she's fair game. Kushina sure as hell isn't though.**

**I do not own anything. If I did, I would be having stripper parties with busty women.**

**Read, Review and Question.**

**"**People talking"

_'People thinking'_

**"Bijuu talking"**

_**'Bijuu thinking'**_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

***In Naruto's mindscape***

Naruto had been drifting in nothingness, for how long he did not know nor did he care. All he knew was that he felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing, tasted nothing and smelled nothing. In a way, this strange oblivion was comforting. All of his worries and woes gone; no fear, no pain, just nothing. Unfortunately for him, this velvet darkness ended quite suddenly as he felt nothing but scorching pain wrack his body in unimaginable ways. Liquid magma filled his veins and his mind started to tear apart as he lost all rational thought and could only soundlessly scream into the void. Begging it for it all just to end.

***The riverbank***

"**ARGH!"** was the demonic yell of the silver haired boy as his body had spasms and convulsed violently. Eventually he stopped moving and just laid there in the cool mud, panting as the pain drained away and rational thought came back to him. Naruto stayed in that position for several minutes as he started to slightly move his limbs in order to regain the feel of using them. After half an hour of this he decided to risk trying to stand up. In a herculean effort, Naruto succeeded in standing up. He looked around himself and saw that he was on riverbank surrounded by a thick grove of trees.

"**You went quite a distance kit. If it weren't for the fact you got snagged on a log which kept you afloat, you would have died."**

"Kyuubi!?"

"**Don't yell you idiot. I needed a way to talk to you without pulling you into your mind so I established this little link. Just think your thoughts towards me."**

'_Kyuubi?'_

"**That's better. Now, before you start shooting off questions let me explain what has happened. I put you in a death like state for the past three days so the restrictions on this seal could loosen enough for me to work my magic. And all that pain you felt was your body's reaction to all the changes it underwent."**

'_Did I at least get something out of all that suffering?'_

"**Of course. Now keep your trap shut while I get into the details of what has become of you. I supercharged your regenerative abilities and senses, your natural affinities have been strengthened and a few have even been added. Be careful with your strength too, your muscle mass is such that you'll become much stronger than any human has the right to be as you grow older. Now here's the strange part. Remember when I said your body was warping because of the corruptive powers of my soul without a chakra buffer?" **Naruto nodded slowly (though Kyuubi couldn't see it, he figured Naruto would) as a bit of fear crept into him. **"Well one of the changes it caused I couldn't undo. But I was able to change it enough so it would benefit you. Your body now naturally produces a strange kind of metal that is a bit like your chakra made solid. Without my changes, this would have rather nasty side effects like intense pain and insanity… Now though, you can fully use this metal however you wish. You can even create it consciously and make it obey your whims. It'll take time to get fully used to this so get ready to train. Questions?"**

'_Am I still human? And what do I do now?'_ Naruto asked with a sense of sadness at possibly proving the villagers right when it came to what manner of organism he was.

"**Human? Maybe. Kit, I honestly don't know what the hell you are anymore. But that 'Am I a monster?' bullshit won't matter if you're dead. Right now you need food and shelter. So find a cave or a hollowed out tree while I explain the fine art of hunting."** Kyuubi said with a surprising amount of joy at the thought of hunting. Naruto obeyed and walked further into the woods, a sense of melancholy surrounding him as he idly wondered when he would ever see his friends again (and whether they would accept what he had become for that matter).

***In the general area where Naruto was thrown into the river***

Kushina was frantically pacing the area while several Inuzuka and Aburame trackers were looking for any trace of Naruto so they could do their jobs. Unfortunately they could not find any even after several hours of looking. And considering the swiftness and depth of the river, it was unlikely they would find Naruto as a corpse much less alive. After having an impromptu debate as to who would be the one to break their findings to the obviously distraught mother, an Aburame male finally volunteered just to get this over with.

"Kushina-sama."

"Have you found any trace of my Naruto-chan?" she immediately asked.

"I'm afraid there is no way for us to track him. And in all likelihood, he is no longer among the living. I am sorry." The Aburame said with a subtle tone of sadness in his voice. The Aburame clan, while not exactly throwing its compound gates open for Naruto before, still respected and admired him for what he contained. They could sympathize with being outcasts for containing something others fervently disliked.

"No. No no no no! You have to find something! Naruto-chan can't be gone! He just can't!" Kushina said, her voice getting more hysterical as she broke down into sobs. The search ended with the sorrowful sounds of Kushina's tears. To her, it felt like a hole had opened in her heart. One that would never heal.

***6 years later, Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot water)***

Naruto had spent the last six years learning various skills and becoming rather dangerous in his own right. He was now fourteen years old and had recently created a fine chokuto for himself out of his self produced chakra metal. It was roughly three and a half feet long, without a guard and the blade was completely silver in color. Its handle was wrapped in a fine dark grey silk that Naruto had managed to find a good price on. It had become his prized possession. He was currently in Yu no Kuni looking for anyone willing to offer him a job; after a few years of training under Kyuubi's watch, Naruto was told to go out and gain experience in combat in order to further his education. Now he hunted C and lower B-class rogue nin and was a favorite bounty hunter in the collection offices. He even took on any random job that paid well which led to him making acquaintances with many people.

As he walked through a rather small town in Yu no Kuni he wondered on another recent addition he had managed; his left arm was now covered up to the elbow in his chakra metal (Hayden's arm from Dark Sector when he first got the technocyte virus). This was the fruit of his labor at finally figuring out how to create his chakra metal in such a way that it could become a second skin and still give him the protection he wanted. It amazed him how pliable his chakra metal was and the untold possibilities it presented (though at the moment he could only produce enough to cover some of his left arm). Losing himself in his thoughts, Naruto accidentally ran into someone.

"Oof!" He groaned out as he fell on his ass. Getting up slowly he looked at the person he ran into. It was an incredibly beautiful girl; skin as white as snow with dark hair that framed her face wonderfully and a pair of honey brown eyes that expressed a deep kindness. She had a slender figure and wore a light pink yukata that fit her air of innocence and kindness well. "I-I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." Naruto said a bit nervously as he held his hand out to help her up. It had been a while since he had seen someone so pretty and he was in the middle of puberty…

"It's alright. I'm at fault too." The pretty girl said with a soft voice as she accepted his help to stand up.

"My name is Naruto, what about yours?" Naruto said, it never hurt to be friendly after all…

"Well Naruto-san, my name is Haku." The now named Haku said cordially as she dusted herself off. She then started to walk away before turning around and saying "It was nice meeting you Naruto-san." Before walking away.

"… Well that led to nothing." Naruto said as a small frown found itself on his face. These past six years had been a bit lonely for Naruto since he had constantly traveled and only had a sarcastic, mean spirited fox to keep him company most of the time. He really wished he had at the least a traveling companion.

"**Hah. You should be happy I even deign to speak with you kit."** The previously mentioned fox said as it had a brief chuckle at Naruto's expense. Naruto's frown grew as he sighed and started to walk further into the small town. After walking a few dozen feet he heard something that stopped him in his tracks; several obvious low-lives were conspiratorially whispering to one another while uttering dark chuckles.

"Heheh, I think I just found us some entertainment for tonight boys." The biggest of the low-lives said as his cronies listened eagerly. "Real innocent-lookin thing, inna light pink yukata heading out of town. It would be rude not to introduce ourselves…" He said with a disgusting grin stretching across his face. If there was one thing Naruto would never let slide it was rape. Traveling for so long (and at such a young age) he had seen many things he wished would fade from memory and even had a few attempts on his own person (he made sure to fix the potential deviants problem with decency with a healthy dose of death). Deciding to follow these bastards and get rid of them in a more private place, he discreetly tailed them as they walked off in the direction Haku went.

***In a secluded spot outside of town***

Haku was calmly walking along a narrow road cutting through a serene forest before stopping and turning around as she heard the steps of a duo of thuggish looking men coming behind her.

"Hello, little lady. Don't mind us, we just want to make sure you get to wherever you're going safely…" the leader thug said as he and one of his cronies advanced menacingly. As Haku was staring at the thugs and taking an involuntary step backwards, she bumped into a thug who had sneaked behind her while she was distracted. The thug quickly grabbed her arms as she started to struggle. Deciding that he had seen enough, the hidden Naruto unsheathed his blade and was about to step in when suddenly he felt killing intent far beyond what he had ever felt before.

"You know, I heard you bastards were pigs but damn. At least I now know why everyone wants you dead." Said a deep, gravelly voice that seemed to come from everywhere, Naruto was surprised that he wasn't able to find the source. Intrigued, he continued to watch.

"Come out you bastard! W-what are you chicken?" One of the thugs yelled out in a fake show of bravado as he was thoroughly freaked out. Only silence ensued as each thug started to succumb to panic; the two thugs who were advancing on Haku were back to back looking for the source of the voice as the thug who had grabbed Haku let her go and was constantly moving around looking for the slightest disturbance in his surroundings.

"You know, I have always loved the look on a smug bastard's face when he realizes he's about to be gutted like swine." The voice said again as the thugs became even more hysterical. In a blindingly fast burst of movement, Haku disappeared into the surrounding forest as a giant blade cut the thug who had previously held her in half diagonally. The one holding the giant sword was a tall, short haired man with bandages wrapped around his face. "HAHAHAH! It's been too long since Kubikiribocho has had a drink. Thank you for your help in quenching that thirst." The tall man said before hefting the blade and placing it on his shoulder casually.

"Now then, who's next?" He said as a hint of glee entered his voice. The two living thugs quickly started running away from the obviously dangerous man as a smile became visible from beneath the bandages wrapped around his lower face. In a single fluid movement, he reached the fleeing thugs and swung his giant blade in a graceful arc that cut both their legs off below the knees. Effectively stopping them getting any further. "Who said you could leave?"

"Please let us go! We have connections! We could give you anything you want! Just please don't kill us!" The leader thug said as he tried to crawl away.

"Our big boss is a gangster who controls this area! I-if you kill us he'll take you down!" the other thug said as he too tried to crawl away.

"Who do you think hired me to get rid of you idiots? A surprisingly high price for such easy marks… You must have really pissed him off." The tall man said as he slowly lifted the blade up his head.

"Wait! NO!" Both thugs managed to yell out before having both their heads cut off in a single swing. A look of horror still on their faces. The swordsman quickly took out a scroll and sealed the severed heads into it before repeating the process with the first thug to die. Haku soon came out of the forest, a look of apathy on her face as she stared at the carnage.

"Hey, kid. You mind coming out now? It's kinda creeping me out how you've just been watching this entire time." The swordsman idly said as he stood up from what he was doing and turned to stare directly at where Naruto was hidden. Deciding to test his luck, Naruto slowly revealed himself to the pair. "Huh, you're the kid who Haku ran into earlier. Well, what do you want?"

"I wish for you to teach me in the arts of the shinobi." Naruto said humbly as he bowed his head. As he watched the swordsman earlier he had realized who he was; the infamous Zabuza Momochi. Naruto had heard rumors about him and his skills in the shinobi arts from fellow bounty hunters and a few nin he ran into and gave a few ryo to get info on targets he should go for and those to avoid.

"Hmph." Was Zabuza's reply before rushing Naruto and swinging his massive blade downward in order to cleave him in twain. Naruto hastily lifted up his chakra metal covered forearm and blocked the blow. Seeing his arm and the fact Naruto had the strength to block his attack made Zabuza rethink Naruto's request. Jumping backwards and sheathing his blade, Zabuza looked at Naruto with an 'explain right the hell now' look.

"Call it a kekkai genkai. I can naturally produce metal and change it to how I want it to be. Like this second skin on my arm. Tough enough to block your blow but thin enough not to slow me down or be obvious to others if I cover it with something."

"Hmm, I won't go easy on you, kid. And I'll kill you if you even think about betraying me." Zabuza said after taking several moments to think, before turning around and walking off.

"Well aren't you just a bright ray of sunshine." Naruto said as he started to follow. Haku started to walk alongside him and gave him a smile while offering her hand for a handshake. Naruto happily accepted it and marveled at how soft her hand was…

"Looks like we'll be working together from now on. Eh, Haku-chan?

"Naruto-san, you do know that I am a boy?" Haku said as **he** continued smiling at Naruto.

"… Of course you are." Naruto sighed out and looked forward awkwardly. And continued to walk at a moderate pace, questioning the existence of a loving god.

"**Hey kit?"**

'_I fucking swear, if you start laughing I'm coming in there and ripping out your nine tails.'_

"… **Are you fucking stupid? Use those advanced senses on Haku."**

'… _I hate you. But I also want to thank you…' _Naruto responded after taking several moments using his advanced sense of smell to pick out scents wafting off Haku that could only come from a female.

"**Keep your thanks."**

'_But why would she lie about being female?'_

"**Fuck if I know. Ask her one day. Until then, treat her like a dude so she doesn't realize you know." **_**'This'll be hilarious if it works out how I hope it will…'**_

'_*Sigh* I may as well. I wonder what'll happen now?' _Naruto idly wondered as he heard the loud snores coming from Kyuubi. _'Lazy fucking fox.'_ At least now Naruto had someone to talk to that wasn't a giant bastard of a fox…

***2 years later, shore of Nami no Kuni***

The past few years under Zabuza's tutelage had been great for Naruto. He now stood at an even six foot and was leanly muscled from constant brutal training. He had grown his hair out to reach his mid back while he trimmed his bangs so they only reached jaw length. His looks had also matured a bit with his face becoming more angular, combined with his electric blue eyes made Naruto incredibly handsome and popular wherever they went (much to Haku's secret chagrin). He wore his chokuto across his back on his right side and was garbed in all black standard Anbu attire. Though the vest, armguards and shin guards were all a dull silver with an insignia of a fox standing above a lotus (Naruto's personal symbol) prominently displayed on each. His left arm though, was completely wrapped in bandages, including the entirety of the shoulder.

With Zabuza's brutal but effective training, Naruto's mastery of his chakra and suiton manipulation (turned out he had futon, suiton and raiton chakra natures but Zabuza was only really skilled in suiton) was through the roof. He now had the entirety of his left arm and shoulder constantly under a shell of his chakra metal and had even managed to find a way to create a special glaive that would spring from the chakra metal near instantly when needed (Hayden's arm when he has all his powers). With Zabuza's knowledge, Naruto fully explored the possibilities of his chakra metal and now had several tricks up his sleeve for when the situation warranted it…

Haku herself was garbed in a fake hunter nin outfit (canon outfit) with a mask to complete the look. Although her chest had gone from a modest b to a much larger c cup. This was negated a bit by the fact that she continued her charade of being a boy to Naruto so she would always bind her chest. Frankly, it amused Naruto how much she tried to hide her gender and the fact she thought she succeeded.

The reason that both of them were on the shore of Nami no Kuni was because they had just received a message from Zabuza about a new job (having taken a separate job beforehand while Zabuza met with an acquaintance). Currently, they were waiting for him to appear and tell them about what they were going to do.

"Why are you so angry with me Haku?"

"I'm not angry." Haku said with a cute pout while looking away from Naruto.

"Of course not. You've been in a bad mood ever since we parted with Amaru-chan." Naruto said. He and Haku had taken a job where they dealt with an invading force of Sora no Kuni nin (Land of Sky) for a prominent town in Hi no Kuni that couldn't get Konoha nin in time. In the process, Naruto met, befriended and saved the life of a girl named Amaru. For several days the three of them had traveled together and when they parted Amaru kissed Naruto on the cheek and told him that if he ever got hurt to find her and she would take care of him. Haku had refused to speak to Naruto for the rest of that day.

"Hmph, I don't know what _she_ has to do with anything." Haku said and stayed quiet. Naruto merely chuckled as they both waited for roughly half an hour before Zabuza finally showed up.

"Hey- What's wrong with you Haku?" Zabuza started before looking at the angrily pouting Haku and losing what he was about to say. Haku merely gave him a look telling him to keep his mouth shut and get on with job details. Knowing Haku's temperament best when she was angry, Zabuza obliged.

"Erm, w-well we have a really easy job this time. There's this bridge builder named Tazuna…"

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**A/N I really want to include Amaru into the harem because I never see her in any fics. We'll see if it works out though. By the way, Haku's reasoning for keeping her gender a secret will be revealed next chapter so don't worry about that. Oh! And if I did it right, my avatar should be the picture of Naruto's insignia. Next chap, the wave arc...**

**Why did I skip over so much? So if needed I can revisit it and add depth to this story. That and several chapters of training wouldn't be nearly as interesting.**

**Is Kyuubi an asshole? Yes. Very much yes. Although Kyuubi will have moments of kindness or other emotions.**

**Read, Review and Question.**


	3. Hello again

**A/N So I'm sorry this took so long. Unfortunately I lost all my notes on this so I had to sit down and figure out what the hell I was doing with this story all over again. I also got a new job that has me working irregular hours so thats been screwing me a bit. Future updates should be more timely so thanks for sticking with this.**

**Harem note! If you need a reminder (Hinata, Hanabi, Anko and Haku) are locked in. I'm still on the fence with Naruko but I'm leaning towards including her. I'll add to the harem as I go along so it'll make more sense in the story. I still want to include Amaru though.**

**I WILL NOT include Kushina.**

**If the world was fair I would own Naruto and Dark Sector but it's not. So I own neither and write fanfiction instead.**

"People talking"

_'People thinking'_

**"Bijuu talking"**

_**'Bijuu** **thinking'**_

**Read, Review and Question.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

***Konoha, Namikaze clan compound 7 am***

The past eight years had been good to Naruko appearance wise. She went from being rather short and even a little pudgy in her childhood days (admittedly in an adorable way) to blossoming into a fine woman. She stood at a nice five foot seven and her chest had grown to a nice mid-sized c cup. Her waist length red hair was usually styled into a ponytail that went well with her often tomboyish attitude and mannerisms. Her regular attire being a pair of brown shorts that hugged her round behind quite nicely and a red t-shirt with the Uzumaki crest on the back.

Naruko was readying herself for the day as she thought about her life as a kunoichi. She had graduated from the academy at the top of her class (narrowly beating Sasuke Uchiha for the top spot) roughly a month ago. Ever since then she had been doing idiotic d-rank missions with her teammates, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka (who needed to stop hitting on her or she would break both of his legs) under her sensei Kakashi Hatake (who was beyond pleased to be mentoring the child of his own sensei, though he secretly mourned never being able to do so for Naruto…). As she continued to muse over her ongoing days, her thoughts inevitably went to where they always did. Naruto.

It had been eight years since he was last seen and at times she felt herself lose hope on ever seeing him again. It was for him that she trained so hard, so that one day she could go out into the world and find her beloved brother who never got the love and care he should have. Looking back on her childhood, she felt ashamed of herself for never truly noticing her brother's plight. He had always cared for her; when she cried he was the first to comfort her, when she was scared he would stay by her side and yet when it was her turn to be there for him she failed miserably and now he was gone. _'No. Not gone. He is out there, waiting for me to find him and bring him home. And I will.'_ She thought to herself as she felt her determination come back to her. As she finished getting ready she left her room and paid a visit to the kitchen where her mother Kushina was waiting for her with breakfast.

"Excited for another day of being a kunoichi, Naruko-chan?" Kushina asked with a mischievous smile, knowing that her daughter was currently going through the terrible times known as d-ranks.

"Of course. Because I love weeding gardens, catching Tora and picking up dog poop." Naruko responded with a deadpan expression and a snarky tone in her voice.

"Good. I'd hate to think you did something you disliked all day. I'll make sure to mention to your dad how much you like those three in particular 'ttebane." Kushina replied, winning this little battle of wits as Naruko looked at her in horror. Over the past eight years Kushina had aged rather well, though there were a few stress lines here and there on her face due to the incident eight years ago. Losing Naruto was something she was still grieving from and truthfully she never forgave herself for how everything went. Her only salvation from the depths of despair being her husband Minato and her daughter Naruko. She had even tearfully begged Hitomi to be her friend again as she realized how badly she had failed Naruto, Hitomi agreed after seeing just how badly Kushina regretted her actions (not to mention noticing that Kushina's guilt was starting to ruin her health). Like her daughter, Kushina also held out hope that one day she would see Naruto again.

"… You win this round mom." Naruko finally conceded and ate her breakfast as Kushina started to smirk in victory. She really did love these fun little conversations with her daughter. After eating her breakfast and making idle conversation with her mother on the usual things, Naruko finally left her home and headed off towards the training ground.

***Streets of Konoha***

Naruko was calmly walking along, responding with icy politeness to the many villagers who greeted her. Ever since Naruto had gone missing she found that a lot of the love she once had for Konoha had gone with him and the villagers were quite aware of this but, unfortunately, still tried to get back into the good graces of the yondaime's daughter. When Naruto first went missing, many villagers who had always hated him had come around and tried to apologize, Naruko promptly told them that she wasn't the one to apologize to. Since then she kept an air of icy politeness to most people. As she was walking she spotted her best friend, Hinata Hyuga.

The two had bonded after Naruto's disappearance. Naruko was desperate for any kind of connection to her brother and had found out he was often at the Hyuga compound so she found the first Hyuga she could and asked them about Naruto. This Hyuga was Hinata who was a wreck at the time from losing her dear friend. After an initially awkward meeting, the two got along by telling each other their favorite times with the silver-haired boy. Naruko could tell though, that even after all this time Hinata was still madly in love with Naruto. So Naruko decided to hook the two up when she finally located him and brought him home. No one could ever say that Naruko was a pessimist.

"NATA-CHAAAN!" Naruko yelled loudly as she ran at Hinata and pulled her into a bone breaking hug.

"Eh? Eeep!" Was Hinata's initial response to being called out and suddenly being hugged. After a few moments Naruko let her go and Hinata was able to breathe so she could respond. "Good morning Naruko-chan." She said happily to the close friend who had helped her with her stutter and grief.

"You going off to train too?" Naruko asked happily.

"Yes. Although I'm a bit early so I can take my time getting there."

"Really? Sweet! Kakashi-sensei is always late so I have plenty of time to kill. Wanna walk together?"

"Sure." Hinata responded as the two walked along and happily conversed.

***Several hours later, training ground 7***

Naruko was currently practicing her fuinjutsu as she waited for her sensei to show up. Off to the side, Kiba was (thankfully) asleep along with his nin dog Akamaru and Sakura, if Naruko's hunch was correct, was daydreaming about Sasuke. As Naruko put the finishing touches on her seal (an explosive seal that would also launch projectiles of her choice) a poof of smoke announced the arrival of her sensei.

"Yo. Sorry I'm late but I was-"

"Suddenly requested by the Hokage to undergo a secret S class mission where you singlehandedly defeated an army and won a collection of Icha Icha first editions?" Naruko said in parody of her sensei's lame excuses.

"… No actually. But I like that excuse and will use it from now on." Kakashi said as he pulled out a small notepad and wrote down the excuse as Naruko felt like smashing her head against a nearby tree. Kakashi then went on to wake up Kiba with a small suiton jutsu while Sakura and Naruko laughed.

"Huh!? Whaa? Whas 'appened?" Kiba said as he frantically started to look around himself after the rude awakening.

"Good morning Kiba. Please sit down so we can start our day." Kakashi said with an eye smile and a subtle undertone of authority that made Kiba's instincts go haywire and scream 'Obey the alpha!'.

"Thank you. Now, you three have been exemplary in your completion of d-ranks so I think it is only fair that we try out a c-rank. Come on." Kakashi finished as he body flickered away as his students got up and madly rushed towards the Hokage tower to get their mission. Kakashi-sensei may get bored if they took too long and wander off after all…

***20 minutes later***

Team 7 was now standing in front of the yondaime Hokage and Naruko's father, Minato Namikaze. He, like Kushina, had aged very well and was still considered one of the most handsome men in the village. One thing that had changed with Minato was his idealism. Before Naruto's disappearance and the subsequent revelations of how his once beloved village treated his son, he believed in the greatness of Konoha and its will of fire. Now he was much colder to the villagers (something said villagers were quite sad about considering their love for the yondaime in general) and wondered how the late Sarutobi dealt with these people for so long. Hell, every time Danzo opened his mouth he had to restrain himself from shoving a rasengan through his face (Danzo was rather vocal on turning Minato's beloved daughter into a weapon when Naruto disappeared). _'Naruto… Will I ever get to apologize to you?'_ Minato thought and had to snap himself back to the present. He would brood once again on his failings later. Right now he had a village to run.

"So Kakashi, you want a c-rank?"

"Yes Hokage-sama. I feel that my team is sufficiently ready for one."

"Well, lucky for you I have such a mission. It's a simple escort mission." Minato said as he smiled and then called in a man named Tazuna. Tazuna was a rotund man who had seen better days and had started drinking even though it wasn't even midday…

"Hmm, so these are the brats I got eh? Meh, you'll do for now. I ain't changing your diapers though." He said as team 7 tried to stay professional and not say some very rude things to him. Kakashi and Minato merely chuckled, oh the joys of working with terrible clients. A harsh lesson that every shinobi learns all too well.

"Alright team 7, pack for a month and meet at the west gate in half an hour. Go." Kakashi said as his team left as fast as they could in both excitement and in trying not to attack Tazuna. If only Naruko knew what this mission would bring…

***Shore of Nami no kuni***

"… So, let me get this straight. We are being paid about several ass loads of cash to finish off a _civilian _bridge builder? What's the catch?" Naruto said in disbelief and suspicion.

"Well, the bridge builder sort of went to Konoha to get some shinobi bodyguards. But I've been assured that with the amount of money that he has, he will only be able to get maybe a single genin team, so one jonin and three genin. Easy pickings for a quick, and may I remind you, _massive_ payday." Zabuza said with arrogance lacing his tone.

"…Right. Isn't Gato, in your own words, 'an untrustworthy, greedy sack of shit made animate by some fiendish power'? Why would we work for him when even you, Mr. Sunshine, think he is an untrustworthy pile of excrement?"

"Are you questioning my judgment brat!?" Zabuza said while getting in Naruto's face.

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I _Old Man_?" Naruto responded and did not back down.

"Zabuza-sama, Naruto I-" Haku tried to intervene before getting cut off by Zabuza.

"Old man? OLD MAN? I'll teach your smart ass some manners!" Zabuza said as he started to grab his Kubikiribocho.

"Bring it Zabuza-sensei! I've always got the time to kick your ass!" Naruto yelled back as he too grabbed his chokuto. Before they could get further into their argument, Haku created a pair of ice senbon and threw both with deadly accuracy; one hit Zabuza and sunk deep into his butt cheek as he gave a high pitched yell. The other bounced off of Naruto who, predicting Haku intervening, covered his lower half in a thin layer of his chakra metal.

"HAH!" Naruto yelled triumphantly before Haku fixed his attitude with a lightning quick (and chakra enhanced) punch to his solar plexus that immediately sent him to the ground in pain. This little display of violence became incredibly common among the trio as it turned out that both Naruto and Zabuza were too stubborn to ever back down to one another. At first, Haku tried to meekly calm them down with gentle words. After several dozen failures of that she lost her composure and used much harsher words. While this worked for a while the effect of the normally kind and meek Haku swearing ran thin. So after that stopped working (and the two accidentally destroying several towns and a small forest in their fights) Haku had enough and would strike both of them when they got too into their arguments.

"Are you two quite finished? Zabuza-sama, Naruto?" Haku asked with an annoyed tone in her voice. It was rather frustrating when the people you worked with fought like children. All. The. Damned. Time.

"Urgh. Yes. Damn Haku, you didn't have to be so violent. The brat and I were just having a normal conversation." Zabuza said as he threw away the ice senbon that he plucked out of his butt cheek. Haku knew where to hit with her senbon to make things hurt; Zabuza was simultaneously proud of how great her skills were and angry with himself for making sure she had those skills.

"Yeah Haku. Zabuza-sensei and I were just having a friendly disagreement." Naruto wheezed out as he gingerly stood up.

"… Right, 'a friendly disagreement'. Now, Zabuza-sama, I do believe Naruto's suspicions of Gato have some merit. I think one of us should investigate him while the other goes on to keep tabs on our target until we know for sure this will not backfire on us." Haku started off with sarcasm lacing her tone (something that had rubbed off on her thanks to Naruto) before switching to a business like tone.

"Hmm, I guess we'll do things your way for now Haku. Brat, sneak into Gato's mansion tonight and dig up whatever you can to make sure we get out of this both alive and on top. Haku, you and I will be doing the reconnaissance on the Konoha team. We will go off and observe them tomorrow morning depending on whether Naruto finds anything. We have plenty of time since the Konoha ninja will be traveling at a civilians pace considering both who they're guarding and the fact that it should be a genin team." Zabuza said with a commanding tone. Naruto and Haku both nodded before they all headed to the hideout they had received from Gato.

***That night, in the forest surrounding Gato's hideout***

Using the directions provided by Zabuza, Naruto was now just out of sight of Gato's hideout. As he double checked to make sure he had his equipment ready, he wondered on how his former sister Naruko was doing. While he didn't exactly care for his former parents (his feelings had turned from boiling anger to apathy and a need to forget them) he still deeply cared for Naruko. She was always kind and loving towards him, to the point where as he remembered his childhood he wondered on whether she was developing a brother complex... Knowing his disappearance probably hurt her quite a bit made his chest ache and created a longing to at the very least give her some closure...

"**Kit, you know better than to try and think on useless things like the past. Maybe one day you can meet her again but right now you have a job to do. You can brood after you've made sure you have your meal ticket secured." **Kyuubi said with an almost concerned tone. While Kyuubi would never admit it, Naruto was probably the closest thing to a friend the giant chakra beast probably ever had. Or will have considering Kyuubi's penchant for causing death and destruction for the hell of it.

'_Yeah… You're right. I'd hate to be some punk ass emo kid who's blinded by the past. Might as well get this show on the road.'_ Naruto said as he activated one of the techniques he had created using his chakra metal: shift. Shift was an interesting ability, by releasing a uniformed flow of chakra from his metal encased arm, Naruto could bend light around himself (and anyone or anything he was holding) in order to become nearly invisible and because of the mass amounts of chakra put into the atmosphere, sensory ninja would not be able to pinpoint his position. Instead their sensor abilities would only pick up a wide cloud of interference in his general area. The downsides of this technique being the obvious fact that it ate through chakra at astounding rates so prolonged usage was not a good idea, and the fact that he couldn't use most jutsu without disrupting the technique. Meaning he was for the most part limited to purely physical attacks. There was also the trouble with anyone with a sensitive enough nose, but considering those were incredibly few and far between this little problem was often moot.

As he felt the shift do its magic, Naruto started moving towards Gato's lair. Easily bypassing guards as he damn near strolled right in. Knowing he didn't have time to sightsee, Naruto moved quickly and efficiently towards Gato's room/office. After a few minutes he found himself in front of a huge, mahogany door that was rather gaudily covered in dragons and other mythological creatures seemingly without rhyme or reason. Even the ornate doorknob was gilded making the entire thing an even bigger exercise in bad taste. As he was wondering on how to get in with the least amount of noise, the door opened as Gato himself walked out.

"Stupid fucking contractor. Not building a bathroom in the master fucking bedroom. Too bad he's dead or I'd…" Gato mumbled as he sleepily walked away, Naruto only being able to catch a small bit of his threatening rant as he took the opportunity to slip into the momentarily open room.

"Well that was convenient." Naruto said as he finished a quick survey of the room to make sure he was alone. Figuring that he was he dropped the shift and quickly went to Gato's desk and started rifling through his papers.

"Gato has some seriously massive hooker bills…" Naruto observed as he found numerous memos on payments to houses of ill repute. Naruto knew quite a bit about brothels because of several occasions where he and his comrades were contracted to protect a brothel or get payment from a non-paying (and often incredibly wealthy) client. Although Zabuza always had a great time on these missions, Haku seemed to be in a perpetual foul mood during them and would make sure Naruto was as far from any temptation as possible. Naruto could never figure out why…

'_**I knew making Naruto see Haku as a dude would pay off. It's so fucking funny seeing these things go over his head.'**_ Kyuubi happily thought as Naruto continued his looking through documents. Naruto suddenly entered shift again as he launched himself into a corner of the room and held himself aloft with chakra as the door opened and Gato entered while talking with someone.

"Calm down. I know the amount of money I'm paying those rogue nin is ludicrous. Which is why I won't be paying them at all. See, I figure if I time it right I can get those damn ninja to kill each other and then swoop in and finish off the survivors with all those new recruits I hired. So stop bothering me with all this bullshit about expenses or I'll show you why I'm the boss..." Gato angrily finished as the person he was talking to (Naruto assumed it to be his accountant) meekly nodded and left. Gato then went back to his bed and almost immediately went to sleep.

"**Well well well, looks like your client there is hiding something from you. I say you gut him. Wait! Use your chakra metal to fill his lungs so he painfully suffocates! That would be hilarious!" **Kyuubi eagerly said as more and more sadistic ways of murdering of Gato were suggested.

'_Shut it! I have a better idea…'_ Naruto thought as he deactivated his shift once again and slowly approached Gato. He then took out several senbon that were covered in a powerful and fast acting paralyzing agent (courtesy of Haku) and jammed them into the sleeping Gato's form (using his incredible speed to jam them into Gato's groin, gut and chest respectively).

"Ack-!" was the only sound Gato made as he woke up violently only to find he was paralyzed. Unable to move his body (except for his eyes) or speak he frantically looked everywhere as Naruto towered over him.

"Well _boss_ it seems you and I have some details to iron out in our contract. If you don't mind I'd feel more comfortable discussing this elsewhere. What's that? You _don't _mind? Well then, let us proceed!" Naruto said with a tinge of joy at seeing the terror in Gato's eyes as he roughly grabbed him and readied his escape.

***A few hours later, Zabuza's hideout***

"Ready to move out?" Zabuza said as he himself was checking over his Kubikiribocho as Naruto and Haku both grimly nodded.

When Naruto arrived back at the hideout with his guest, he quickly explained what he had heard. Zabuza was not amused and, after having Haku administer an antidote, proceeded to torture all the information he could out of the arrogant midget (and taking quite a bit of joy from it). Gato broke rather quickly and was then killed with Zabuza delivering the killing blow with Kubikiribocho. After that a plan was formed; to storm Gato's hideout, steal everything they could and eliminate the thugs there. Not the most elaborate of plans but it suited everyone fine.

"Alright, let's go." Zabuza said as Naruto and Haku grimly nodded and left.

***Dawn, in front of Gato's hideout***

The previous night had been a whopping success, almost boringly so for Zabuza and Naruto. Without anyone to direct them, the sleeping turned panicking thugs were dispatched with ruthless efficiency by Zabuza and Naruto; in fact they had not even needed to use jutsu with how well it went. After that boring slaughter the trio regrouped as Haku had been given the duty of stealing everything she could from inside the mansion. She had also made sure to rig the place to blow as a final insult to Gato for trying to double cross them (this having been suggested by Naruto with Zabuza thoroughly agreeing with him).

"Well that was boring. Those stupid shits didn't even put up a fight." Zabuza said with a surprisingly morose tone.

"That aside Zabuza-sama, I managed to get everything needed from the mansion. Shall we leave?" Haku said as she counted the sealing scrolls she brought with her to make sure she had everything.

"Yeah. Let's blow this joint." Zabuza said as he smiled to himself. Naruto merely gave him a 'really?' look at the use of the pun; as they left, a massive explosion echoed out the moment they were a safe distance away.

***A week later, Zabuza's hideout***

It had been a week since the successful raid on Gato's mansion and Zabuza had called both Naruto and Haku for a meeting since they had finally finished with giving back the citizens of Nami their wealth (after taking their much deserved share from it of course). The decision to return the wealth had been made a bit complicated since no one had bothered to take the records of what belonged to whom from Gato's mansion so it had become a long tedious process. Though even Zabuza would admit to having enjoyed being able to help the beleaguered people of Nami. Now the trio was sitting around a table found in the living room of their hideout.

"So what's on your mind Zabuza-sensei?" Naruto asked with a hidden tone of concern. He felt that Zabuza had been acting a bit strange lately. The normally brash and loud sadist would often get quiet and seem to be contemplating something rather deeply and more often than not he would venture off alone without saying anything. The last part being odd because Zabuza had made it a habit to always tell them where he went and for how long in case anything were to happen. The life of a rogue nin being even more dangerous than that of a nin with a village backing them.

"It's time I left this place." Zabuza replied simply.

"Shall I start packing then Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked as she started thinking on where she had left the extra sealing scrolls she had gotten for just this occasion.

"You've misunderstood. _I'm_ leaving. You two are not coming with me anymore."

.

.

.

"What?" Haku said as she broke the tense silence that had fallen. Her voice coming out as a broken tone that was underscored by the rapidly increasing panic that was forming in her eyes and the visible trembling appearing on her slender frame.

"I've come to a decision this past week. Now, shut up and listen closely because I won't repeat myself…" Zabuza started as he stood up and looked away from the confused Naruto and panicking Haku "… I'm going back to Kiri and using my share of the take to help my cousin Mei with the Kiri rebellion. Naruto…" Zabuza solemnly stated as he turned around and stared at the now even more confused Naruto with an intensity that made Naruto realize how serious this was. "…I'll be leaving Haku in your care. She has been like a daughter to me ever since I found her all those years ago. I didn't want her to be bothered by scum so I had her pretend to be a man for years. But I feel you'll be able to care for her so that will no longer be necessary. I want you both to go out and make your own way in this world since I know you both are ready."

In the wake of Zabuza's unexpected words a surreal silence fell. This lasted until Haku finally had enough and bolted from her seat and clung to Zabuza as tears quickly fell from her face. Zabuza looked awkward for a moment before returning the hug with one arm and softly patting her head with the other. Naruto was able to discern a small but genuine fatherly smile on Zabuza's bandaged face as this continued for several minutes.

"If you ever need help, send word to Kiri. If I'm still alive I'll put in a good word with whoever the new Mizukage will be. Naruto!" Zabuza started off in a caring (for him) tone before his tone shifted completely as he yelled at Naruto.

"Y-yes!?" Naruto replied.

"I will probably never say this again but, I am proud to have had you as my student. I would have been glad to have called you my comrade had you been in the seven swordsmen of the mist." This was probably the highest compliment Zabuza could ever give as he held his former group above damn near anything in his mind.

"Zabuza-sensei…" Naruto said momentarily speechless as he found a feeling of warmth spreading in his chest. Truthfully, Naruto had viewed Zabuza as a strange amalgamation of teacher, older brother and father so these words meant more to him than anything his own former father had ever said.

"That said, if I ever hear of you mistreating my little girl I WILL hunt you down, cut off your limbs, feed them to you then gut you in order to extract your limbs and feed them to you again! We clear brat?" Zabuza said as the warm feeling in Naruto's chest was replaced by a foreboding sense of dread as he realized that this was a completely serious threat as opposed to the normal joke ones they shared. Naruto nodded quickly since he had no clue how to deal with this strange emotional Zabuza.

"Haku. Live long and make sure to send me pictures of any future metal and ice users. And don't take any shit from the brat. Visit too when you can." Zabuza said as he extracted himself from the teary embrace of Haku and looked away, embarrassed from the emotional words he had to say at this moment.

"I will… father." Haku said with a gentle smile on her face as she wiped away the tears.

"Good. Then farewell… daughter. And you too brat. Remember what I said…" Zabuza said as he gave a final hug to Haku, shook Naruto's hand rather forcefully and then grabbed a previously readied bag from the corner of the room. As he left the room he spared a final glance towards the two and briefly flashed a poignant smile that found itself duplicated on the faces of the two occupants left.

.

.

.

"I'm going to miss that guy." Naruto said quietly as he found that he was now alone with Haku.

"As will I Naruto-sama."

"Yeah. So n- Wait. Naruto-sama?" Naruto started off before becoming confused.

"Yes. Naruto-sama." Haku replied with a smile and a tinge of red coloring her face.

"… Why the –sama?"

"Because Naruto-sama, Zab-, I mean father left me in _your_ _care_." Haku said as her face grew redder and she looked away to hide it.

"… And? Of course you're in my care. We are comrades after all. I'd naturally assume you would be watching my back." Naruto said as Kyuubi was desperately trying to stifle the giant outburst of laughter threatening to alert Naruto of his startling denseness. Haku instantly had a vein start throbbing on her forehead as she tried to contain her anger only to fail and give Naruto a chakra enhanced punch on his unarmored right arm as she left while muttering under her breath something that in Naruto's pain and surprise he did not pick up.

"… Stupid Naruto-sama not understanding a maidens' heart and still thinking of me as a guy…"

"Oww… What was that for?" Naruto said as he rubbed his arm.

"**BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! You're so fucking stupid! Oh it's beautiful!" **Kyuubi finally yelled out as it proved too difficult to keep quiet. Naruto only found his confusion growing as the echoes of Kyuubi's laughter continued on in his mind.

***The next day, shore of Nami no Kuni***

Naruto and Haku were currently readying a boat they had been given as a parting gift from the incredibly thankful people of Nami (the girls of the village wanting to give Naruto something a little _extra_ but Haku had made sure to put a stop to that). Naruto and Haku had agreed upon going to Yugakure to enjoy a short vacation in their famed hot springs before going to meet a contact in order to find some easy work. Truthfully, with the amount of money they had gotten from their share of Gato's fortune they could just as easily settle down comfortably somewhere quiet… A fact that Haku was trying to find a good opportunity to bring up…

"I swear to Kami! I will beat some manners into your pea-sized brain!" was suddenly heard as a boat came into view. Both Haku and Naruto stiffened as they realized they had forgotten something incredibly important; there was a Konoha team that was supposed to show up. And if those chakra signatures were right then this would be them.

"Oh fuck. Haku!" Naruto uttered as he quickly grabbed Haku and entered shift. A few moments later a boat landed with a thud as all of its occupants except one got off.

"Sorry about this Tazuna but since Gato's gone I got a ton of fishing to catch up on." The boatman said as he started to leave.

"No, don't worry about it. I'm just happy that damned midget is gone! Thanks for the news my friend." The now named Tazuna jubilantly said as he donned a smile that was filled with only the utmost joy.

"It's too bad we didn't get to do anything though." A boy with short brown hair, a large dog and a pair of facial markings moaned out.

"Don't be stupid Kiba. What if we had to deal with an A-class nin or higher? We'd be screwed if Kakashi-sensei were to be taken out of the fight, even if it's only momentarily." A pink haired girl with a flat chest said.

"Sakura's right. This mission could have gone a lot worse. In the shinobi world, you won't often get breaks like this. So enjoy it Kiba." The tallest member of the group, a man with silver gravity defying hair and an open book said. In that instant, Naruto finally realized who he was. _The _Kakashi Hatake. His former father's only surviving pupil. And probably the worst person to come across in this situation.

'_Wait, if Kakashi is here, then does that mean…?'_ Naruto thought as felt a lump grow in his throat. He scanned the small group of people and suddenly his eyes landed on a slender redhead with unmistakable features. Naruko was here and she was only a short distance away.

"Well, we may as well get a move- Kiba, are you trying to get my scent again you damned pervert!?" Naruko started off with a bored tone before becoming angry as she saw Kiba intensely sniffing the air. It had been no secret to anyone that Kiba had a thing for Naruko (something she had on numerous occasions had to deal with) but the problem was that it was more of a lust based attraction and Kiba was a massive pervert.

"Calm down. We aren't alone." Kiba said in a rare moment of seriousness. While Kiba was a perverted jerk most of the time, his skills in tracking had never been questioned. Especially when it came to his incredibly sensitive (even for an Inuzuka) nose. "Near that boat. Oddly though, one of the scents is like yours Naruko but not…"

"Guard the client." Kakashi quickly said as he took out a kunai with an explosive note attached and threw it at the boat. Naruto borrowed a senbon from Haku and threw it at the incoming kunai; deflecting it and making the explosion go off in mid air. Trying to use the ensuing chaos as a distraction, Naruto bolted towards the forest before having to jump away as several more explosive note laden kunai landed all around him. Deciding he would rather keep himself and Haku alive, Naruto deactivated shift and instead used a second one of his chakra metal abilities, shield.

Shield was a straightforward ability; in fact it was more like the logical extension of shift than anything. It was when Naruto released a wave of chakra from his chakra metal in a given direction (in this case all around himself and Haku) that formed a shield. Due to the strange qualities of his chakra metal this shield both absorbed (like right now with the concussive force from the explosion) and repelled attacks. In fact, with proper aim, timing and luck it could even send back an attack at an enemy. But like shift, it ate chakra at rates that would be foolish to keep up for long.

"Well shit. Looks like we've been found out." Naruto said as he deactivated his shield and released Haku from the bridal carry he had her in as he tried to escape. "Now, if you don't mind, we'd like to leave." Naruto said in what he hoped was a placating tone as he tried to hide his face by looking away...

"It couldn't be… Naruto? Is that you?" Naruko uttered as she had caught a glimpse of whisker marks on the tall silver-haired man.

"… It's been a while, eh Naruko?" Naruto said as he realized he had been discovered. He then looked Naruko directly in the eyes as he knew that this would be an interesting conversation.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**A/N BAM! Chapter end. Naruto and Haku are now facing off team 7 and next chapter should be rather interesting both fight and story wise. How will either side react? How long will Naruto stay a dense idiot? How long until Hinata and Haku face off? Stay tuned to find out. If you have a question that NEEDS to be answered, send me a pm.**

**Read, Review and Question.**


	4. A painful way to reunite

**A/N So, I have no idea whether this is good or not. I've been sick with the flu for the past several days as I wrote this so I haven't been 'all here' when making this. Either way, enjoy. **

**Sidenote: the harem has been decided! Naruko will be included but it will be a gradual process. I'll reveal the harem as I go along for some added mystery.**

**This is Au, so somethings will be a bit different. And i'll delve into those differences next chapter.**

**I do not own Naruto or Dark Sector. If I did, both would be a lot more perverted...**

"People talking"

_'People thinking'_

**"Bijuu talking/Naruko enraged"**

_**'Bijuu thinking'**_

**Read, review and question while I go get more flu medicine so my snot doesn't coat my laptop.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

***Shore of Nami no Kuni***

A silence thick with tension had fallen upon everyone as Naruto and Naruko looked at one another: one with disbelief and hope, the other with apprehension and worry. But it would be someone else to break the stare off.

"… Uh, what the hell is going on?" Kiba eloquently said as he figured it would be best if someone started explaining things.

"I-I-I'm so happy to see you again Naruto. I thought I had lost you…" Naruko said as the corners of her eyes filled with tears and she started to take steps towards Naruto and Haku. "Mom and dad will be so happy. We can be a family again." Naruko said as a brilliant smile bloomed on her face as she started to reach out towards Naruto.

"No. There never was a 'family' with your parents that included me. I'm sorry Naruko. What you want will never exist. I… I won't be going back with you." Naruto said in a sorrowful tone as he could see Naruko's heart breaking before him. It hurt him to do this but she needed to know. Or at least that was what Naruto said to himself.

"What? W-why would you say that!? You're my brother! You belong back home with me! With mom and dad!" Naruko said as her tone started to get hysterical. This long awaited meeting was not going the way she had always dreamed it did…

"That was _never_ my home. We both know that Naruko." Naruto said as a bit of anger flashed in his voice before he was able to calm down. While the two former siblings were speaking, Haku was keeping a close eye on Kakashi who had removed his headband and looked like he was getting ready for a fight. Suddenly, Haku grabbed Naruto and jumped out of the way as a second Kakashi burst from the ground where the two had previously been. It seemed he had snuck a clone underground during the previous distraction of explosions.

"Naruto, please come quietly. I will use force to bring you back if necessary. Please, I don't want to hurt you." Kakashi said with genuine concern in his voice as Naruko looked angrily back at him.

"Kakashi-sensei! What the fuck was that!?" Naruko angrily yelled.

"I'm sorry Naruko but its standing orders from your father. If Naruto is ever spotted every available shinobi is to capture him… at all costs." Kakashi said with a regretful tone on the last part. While speaking he had covertly started to use hand signals to tell Sakura to retreat with Tazuna and Kiba to go for Haku.

"But-!" Naruko tried to argue.

"Naruko. You are a shinobi of Konohagakure no sato. Part of the job will be doing things you don't like." Kakashi said as he looked at her with the most serious expression Naruko had ever seen on him. Naruko slowly nodded as a few tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, she quickly wiped them away as she hardened her heart for what she was about to do. While this meeting had not gone how she had hoped, it still gave her the opportunity to bring back her brother. An opportunity she would not waste…

"I hope you realize I won't be making this easy." Naruto said as he unsheathed his chokuto and took a stance taught to him by Zabuza. Haku herself had already created a set of ice senbon for immediate use as she too took a battle stance.

Several moments of tense silence followed as both sides stared at one another, neither wanting to make the first move. Deciding that he had enough of waiting, Kiba and Akamaru started things off by launching themselves at Haku (who had used the sudden movement to throw a senbon that pierced the so far unmoving clone's throat). Realizing that was the cue to retreat, Sakura grabbed Tazuna and fled to a distance that she deemed would be safe as Kakashi and Naruko both found themselves dodging the incredibly quick slashes of Naruto.

***Haku and Kiba***

"Heh, you're a pretty one. But I'm still going to beat your ass. And after I do, Naruko will finally give in to my charms." Kiba said with arrogance lacing his tone as he and Akamaru landed from their failed attack. Haku merely looked at them with disinterest as she realized she needed to end this quickly... "What? Too scared to talk back? Heh, this'll be too ea-" Kiba started to say before being interrupted by several senbon sent his way. He dodged to one side while Akamaru dodged to the other. Before Kiba could launch a counterattack, a pair of what seemed to be ice mirrors appeared; one where Haku had been and the other appearing behind Kiba.

"You talk too much." Haku uttered before stabbing a senbon into Kiba's neck that sent him into a death like state. As Kiba crumpled to the ground, Akamaru uttered a ferocious howl filled with grief at his partner's supposed death. Filled with rage, Akamaru immediately launched himself at the awaiting Haku. With blinding speed that was borne from countless spars and years of practice, Haku launched several senbon at the currently mid-air Akamaru; each hitting with deadly accuracy and digging deep into his muscles. As Akamaru drew close, he realized he could no longer move his limbs… Before being able to think further on that little problem, Akamaru was given a powerful roundhouse kick that left him on his back a dozen feet away. Fortunately, he landed in such a way that the senbon did not dig deeper into his flesh and avoided becoming fatal.

Satisfied with her work, Haku launched herself at Naruko…

***With Naruto, Naruko and Kakashi. Same time***

Naruto had exploded into action the moment Kiba had attacked Haku. Knowing Haku would be able to handle herself, Naruto quickly closed the distance between himself and the truly dangerous members of this genin cell; Kakashi and Naruko. Using quick and wide slashes in order to force the duo to move in order to dodge, Naruto managed to make sure that he had their attention. While he wouldn't kill them, a bit of a beat down in order to ensure his and Haku's escape was certainly needed.

"Naruto, please stop this and just surrender!" Kakashi said after avoiding another near hit. While it was obvious Naruto wasn't trying to kill them, the mastery of his attacks was still readily seen.

"Please onii-chan! Just stop this! Just come back to Konoha!" Naruko cried out as she too continued to dodge.

"I'll be damned if I go back to _that_ village willingly!" Naruto shouted out as he, with a sudden burst of speed, caught Kakashi off guard with a brutal punch to the face that sent the copy cat nin flying backwards for a few yards before he was able to catch himself. Shocked by this display of speed Naruko watched speechlessly as Naruto and Kakashi then engaged in a quick kenjutsu match, Naruto with his chokuto and Kakashi with a pair of kunai. As Naruko watched the incredible scene, she was completely blind to the rapidly approaching Haku who had just defeated Kiba. Naruko then had the displeasure of being hit in the face by a chakra enhanced right hook from Haku that, like her sensei, sent her flying.

"Naruko!" Kakashi yelled as he saw Naruko get blindsided. Before he could go help, he had to block a powerful slash from Naruto that made the bones in his arms ache. If it weren't for the fact that Kakashi had been fortifying his kunai's with chakra, he was sure that the chokuto would have cut through using brute force alone…

"It's not wise to lose focus." Naruto stated as he delivered a powerful kick to Kakashi's midsection. Although Naruto's kick only broke a log Kakashi had substituted with. Naruto then saw Kakashi in the corner of his eye running towards Haku. Deciding to try something new, Naruto created half a dozen water clones that followed him as he jumped towards Kakashi (who was now attacking a mainly dodging Haku). "You take Naruko!" Naruto yelled as he and his clones attacked Kakashi with perfect synchronization. As Naruto kept Kakashi at bay with his clones, Haku approached the now recovered Naruko.

"You bitch! Are you the one who poisoned _my_ onii-chan's mind!" Naruko yelled as she grasped at straws in order to rationalize Naruto's unwillingness to be a family again.

"I would hold back on the name calling if I were _you_." Haku spat out with particular acidity on the word 'you'. Naruto had shared his history and his being a jinchuuriki with both her and Zabuza. And honestly, Haku was disgusted by how Naruto's supposed family acted.

"**Fuck you!" **Naruko roared out as she launched herself at Haku; a red hue entering Naruko's eyes as her canines lengthened a tad... Naruko started to throw sloppy hooks and straights at Haku (who easily avoided each and would retaliate with her own blow, but they seemed to be doing nothing), this continued for several minutes before Haku had had enough and, after doing a sudden backstep, did the handsigns for suiton: teppodama (liquid bullets) and fired several powerful blasts of water at Naruko. The blasts connected with Naruko and sent her crashing into a tree a few yards away. A tri-pronged kunai could be seen flying through the air before sticking to the ground; having been knocked off Naruko with the concussive force of the suiton attack. Deciding to finish this, Haku launched herself at Naruko, paralyzing poison covered senbon in hand.

Suddenly, where the tri-pronged kunai had landed a figure appeared with a flash of yellow; this newcomer being none other than Minato Namikaze. He had felt the pull from the kunai he had given Naruko in case of emergencies and had appeared only to see an unknown assailant about to plunge several senbon into his daughter. Quickly creating a rasengan, Minato dashed forward. Minato drove the rasengan towards the unknown assailant only for a poof of smoke to obscure the details in front of him and a new person taking the place of the former assailant. Thinking nothing of this, Minato continued his attack (even adding a bit more chakra for extra power) and only allowed the rasengan to explode (and send the enemy flying through several trees) after being reasonably confident that whoever he had just attacked would no longer be getting up.

"""NARUTO!""" Was suddenly heard as Minato's blood ran cold and he quickly looked at the shinobi he had more than likely just killed.

Spiky, silver hair.

Whisker marks.

'_Oh Kami… What have I done?'_ Minato thought as he felt his body lock up in shock. Before Minato could recover, he saw a blur fly past him and land next to Naruto.

"Naruto-sama! Don't worry, Naruto-sama! You'll be alright! You'll be alright! Please just be alright!" Haku cried out desperately as she cradled Naruto's head and could see the amount of damage that attack had done... An immense feeling of guilt flooded her body as she rocked back and forth while cradling Naruto's head. The moments after Naruto switched places with her via substitution replaying in her head as she saw Naruto take that devastating attack.

"Onii-chan!" Naruko cried out as she forced herself up and ran towards her downed former brother. But before she could reach him, Haku aggressively brandished several senbon that stopped her in her tracks.

"Don't you come any closer!" Haku yelled with primal fury as she gently laid Naruto's head down and stood in front of him protectively. If need be, she would gladly die in order to get Naruto to safety.

"I-I just want to help my onii-chan!" Naruko yelled out with tears in her eyes as she stared at Haku's angered visage.

"Really? Like you 'helped' when he was all alone and attacked as a child!" Haku yelled back with tears rolling down her face. _'If only we had left sooner…'_ Before Naruko could respond, she saw a flash a yellow as her father appeared next to Haku and with a simple punch, knocked her unconscious.

"Kakashi! I'll send an Anbu unit to relieve you. I'm taking Naruko, Naruto and this woman with me." Minato yelled as Naruko ran to her father and everyone mentioned disappeared in a yellow flash before Kakashi could even respond.

.

.

.

"… Naruto…" Kakashi said with a melancholy air as he stared into the sky and felt the sins of the past once again weigh upon him. Would there ever be a time where he didn't let someone down?

***Unknown time later, unknown place***

Naruto opened his eyes only to see a brilliant blue sky. Beneath him he felt soft grass that was incredibly comfortable at the moment. _'But, wasn't I having a fight in Nami?'. _Before Naruto could think further on this, he heard soft footsteps approaching. Naruto then sat up and stared in the direction of the footsteps only to have his jaw fall open in shock as a bit of blood dripped from his nose. In front of him was Amaru and Haku, but both were garbed in bikini's that were so small that they left incredibly little to the imagination. Amaru's was a deep red while Haku's was a pale blue.

"Naruto-kun/sama!" they both shouted simultaneously as they reached him.

"You finally woke up Naruto-kun! Took you long enough! Now come on, it's time to go swimming." Amaru said as she grabbed one of Naruto's arms and dragged him up.

"Swimming?" Naruto said confused since they were in a forest…

"Of course Naruto-sama! Why else would we all be in swimwear?" Haku jovially said as Naruto realized he was in swim trunks and that the grass beneath his feet had morphed into sand without him knowing it. The gentle lull of lapping waves filling his ears as the scent of the sea reached him as well.

"U-uh, sure." Naruto replied as he allowed Haku to grab his other arm and he was met with the delightful sensation of two beautiful girls holding his arms tightly to their chests. Naruto found himself becoming lost to the feeling as he was walked towards the sea.

"Looks like a great day for a swim doesn't it?" Naruto happily said as he, Haku and Amaru would go on to spend a day having quite a bit of fun. As night fell, Naruto found himself sitting on the sand in front of a bonfire with Haku and Amaru both resting their heads on either of his shoulders.

"Mmmm, it was such a great day Naruto-kun."

"Yeah… But I know something that will make it even better…" Haku said in a lusty tone as she grabbed Naruto's head and oh so slowly moved her face closer to his as Naruto expressed no resistance. Their lips gradually grew closer as Naruto felt excitement and nervousness bloom in his chest at what was to come…

"**WAKE THE FUCK UP!"** Was maliciously shouted as Naruto suddenly saw Kyuubi's head replacing Haku's.

***Real world, unknown place, unknown time***

"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Naruto yelled as he suddenly awoke and frantically looked around himself. After a few seconds of frenzied investigation he realized he was in what looked like a hospital room from all the white…well everything and the smell of antiseptic permeating the air. As Naruto tried to move he realized that there was chakra sealing cuffs on both his arms chaining him to the bed.

"Well, shit." He softly mumbled to himself as the gravity of his situation started to take root.

"**Yep. That's about the best way to sum this up." **Kyuubi chimed in.

'_Kyuubi? The hell happened?' _

"**What happened you ask? Well dipshit, **_**this**_** is a hospital. This is where you go when you intercept an A rank technique by a kage level shinobi who put an extra bit of oomph into it to make sure you **_**die**_**. If it weren't for your healing factor and that small bit of chakra metal you were able to cover yourself with you would have been goo, splattered across the trees lining the shore of Nami no Kuni right now. I've spent about three days personally healing your dumbass since the damage was so severe. I have to give that bastard kage credit though; the rasengan is **_**nasty**_** on fleshy meatbags like yourself."**

'_Where's Haku?'_

"**Fuck if I know. By the way, I made sure to reabsorb any chakra metal you had on you so they wouldn't get their hands on that. Be thankful."**

'_Thanks. And shit… We-'_ Naruto started before having his conversation interrupted by the door into his hospital room exploding as a pair of doctors stumbled in.

"We heard yelling!?"

"Is everything alright!?" The doctors yelled as they caught their breath. Unknown to Naruto, Minato had promised a terrible death to anyone who did not treat Naruto with all the care and respect they could muster. And no one wanted to argue with Minato right now.

"Stop yelling! This is a hospital for Kami's sake!" The clearly (now) fine Naruto yelled back at the newly chastised doctors who meekly bowed their heads before leaving and closing the door behind them. Naruto knew that the second they left the room they would be sending word that he was awake… In all honesty, he was surprised that Kushina, Minato or Naruko were absent from his room in the first place.

.

.

.

Sure enough, within a few minutes the door was once again thrown open as Minato, Kushina and Naruko filed in. Minato with a complicated expression on his face, Naruko with melancholic joy and Kushina looking like she was about to explode from excitement. As Kushina was about to open her mouth to speak, she was cut off by Naruto.

"Where's Haku?" Naruto coldly stated. The coldness in his voice instantly stopping Kushina in her tracks as she saw not the happy look of a child greeting their parents but the steely stare of a captured nin waiting for the inevitable interrogation.

"What? But Naruto-chan, you're back! It's time for us-"

"Where. IS. HAKU?" Naruto interrupted once again, but this time with much more force and anger in his tone.

"B-But, Naruto-chan-" Kushina started before Minato put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"She's currently in a holding cell in T & I." Minato said with pain and sorrow etched into his face as he stared at Naruto.

"Take me to her. Now." Naruto said, the malice in his voice palpable as everyone could feel the anger radiating off of him. Before anyone could say anything, Minato nodded and walked towards Naruto as Kushina and Naruko stared at him confusedly. They realized what he was doing only a moment before it happened but it was too late, Minato had put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and disappeared with his signature yellow flash.

***Seconds later, Torture and interrogation holding area***

Naruto and Minato appeared in front of Haku's cell (Minato having left a fuin here earlier for just this occasion). The cells on this level of T & I were all roughly six by nine feet, with a small bed in one corner and a toilet in the other, the upside being that these cells were kept relatively clean since they were meant only for holding people; not as the beginning stages of a brutal interrogation. Haku was currently sitting in seiza position in the center of her small cell, a stony expression on her face as she kept her eyes closed.

"Haku!" Naruto yelled before dropping to his knees and reaching between the bars of the cell towards his dear friend. Upon hearing his voice, Haku's eyes opened as a deeply relieved look appeared on her face. She quickly scurried forward and accepted Naruto's comforting strokes across her cheek.

"Naruto-sama! I'm so glad you're alright. They wouldn't tell me anything of your condition." Haku stated as she enjoyed Naruto's comforting presence and the tender gestures of affection.

"Did they do anything to you Haku?" Naruto worriedly asked.

"No Naruto-sama. They just threw me into this cell after having a med nin check me out." Haku said as Naruto uttered a sigh of relief.

*Cough* "I hate to interrupt this touching moment but we need to have a talk." Minato awkwardly said as he looked away. What had occurred in Nami had been eating away at him and the sorrow and guilt he had felt since Naruto's disappearance had exploded in potency. It now almost physically hurt to look at Naruto…

"I want to be in the cell next to Haku." Naruto stated simply.

"I can arrange that." Minato softly replied.

"Let me speak with Haku for an hour and I'll give you your 'talk'." Naruto said as Minato nodded and spoke with a nearby Anbu before disappearing in a yellow flash.

***An hour later***

Minato, Kushina and Naruko appeared in a yellow flash in front of Haku's cell (who was now curled up in her bed and in a deep sleep, having not slept since she awoke as a captured nin several days ago). They were confused for a moment at not seeing Naruto but that was soon fixed when they saw him in the cell next to Haku's. He was lying on his back on the bed, staring at the ceiling seemingly without a care in the world.

"Keep your voices down, Haku is sleeping." Naruto said simply, still staring at the ceiling.

"Naruto-chan, it's so good to see you… I-I thought we had lost you." Kushina said as tears started to roll down her face.

"First off, don't call me with –chan. You lost all right to that quite some time ago _Kushina-san_. And it wasn't exactly my choice to be here. Eh, Minato?"

"Naruto, don't talk to your mother li-" Minato started quickly as a bead of cold sweat ran down his forehead. He had never told Kushina how Naruto got so wounded… And in the emotional rollercoaster that had been the past several days, Naruko never mentioned it.

"_Don't ever_ call yourselves my parents." Naruto said as he bolted upright and gave Minato and Kushina a deathly cold glare filled with anger. "We are not family. We are not friends. I am a captured nin and you are my captors."

"H-how can you say that Naruto-chan!?"

"I don't know, maybe because you fucking abandoned me for most of my life?" Naruto sarcastically spat out as he was rapidly losing his control over his emotions.

"Naruto, we did the best we could…"

"No. You didn't." Naruto replied softly replied as he remembered all those times he spent alone in Konoha as his former parents busied themselves with everything but him. An awkward silence fell upon everyone as they all realized that at this moment in time, nothing would be able to be sorted out.

.

.

.

"At least you'll move back home now onii-chan." Naruko said as a small smile graced her face at the thought of waking up with Naruto once again in her life.

"Nope. I'll be staying right here. In this cell."

"But why!?" Naruko yelled.

"What did I tell you about keeping it down?" Naruto said with a scolding older brother tone that made Naruko meekly bow her head and utter an apology. "Like I said, I'm staying here with Haku. I won't be going back to that place." Naruto finished while Kushina buried her face in Minato's shoulder as she couldn't stop the tears anymore. It hurt quite a bit to see how deeply she and Minato had ruined their relationship with Naruto.

"How about a compromise? You and Haku could be placed under house arrest with one of the major clans of Konoha." Minato offered, not wanting to see Naruto in a cell surrounded by scum.

"Hmm, make it the Hyuga clan and I'll accept it." Naruto said after giving it some thought. Hopefully he was still in the good graces of the Hyuga…

"I'll see what I can do. Come on Kushina, Naruko-chan." Minato said as he gently led them both away. He felt they needed a bit of a walk to help clear their heads.

***Hokage's office, 45 minutes later***

Hiashi, his wife Hitomi and their two daughters had just been summoned by the hokage for an important meeting and now they were all standing in front of a haggard looking Minato. The sadness in his eyes and posture was incredible as Hiashi felt a twinge of sorrow for his former friend.

"You summoned us Hokage-sama?" Hitomi softly called out. Knowing how strained it was whenever her husband and Minato spoke.

"Yes Hitomi-sama. Recently we have recovered two nin that I will be putting under house arrest. To only be allowed out when accompanied by at least one escort. I was hoping to have your clan take this assignment. You will be paid accordingly for your service of course."

"Hmm, who are these nins?" Hitomi replied. While this was a bit of an odd request, Hitomi knew Minato would not ask unless there was a deeper reason behind this. She had heard from a friend that an entire wing of the hospital was off limits at the moment and Anko had told her rumors about a super VIP prisoner kept in a recently emptied and restricted area of T & I. They were in an area that was only guarded by the Hokage's personal Anbu unit and even interrogators like Ibiki and Inoichi weren't allowed access…

"One is a kunoichi named Haku. She should not be too much trouble. And the other… The other is Naruto." Minato said to a room filled with a surreal silence as the Hyuga family took a moment to digest this.

"N-Naruto-kun, h-he's back?" Hinata said as the surprise was so great that she momentarily reverted to her old stuttering habits.

"Onii-sama's alive?" Hanabi whispered quietly as she felt tears gather in the corner of her eyes.

"Why are you asking us this Hokage-sama?" Hiashi suddenly spoke as he gave Minato a questioning look.

"…Because Naruto refuses to even step foot in my home. He would prefer a prison cell at T & I if given a choice between the two." Minato softly said as he clenched both his fists tight enough to draw blood.

"I see. We accept. Please deliver Naruto-kun to us soon." Hiashi said as a frown briefly appeared on his face before he turned around and left. Minato had created his own problems; it was not Hiashi's place to console him. Hitomi quickly uttered a farewell as she grabbed both her dazed daughters and went after her husband.

***Half an hour later, a garden within the Hyuga clan compound***

Hiashi, Hitomi, Hinata and Hanabi were gathered in the inner garden where Minato had previously planted a fuin for his signature technique. An Anbu having alerted them that the drop off would be happening soon; it would be any moment now that they finally met with someone that they had all been missing for years… Anko would have been there as well but unfortunately she had left for a mission earlier that day. Everyone fidgeted nervously as the seconds ticked by until a bright yellow flash appeared in front of them as a trio of people appeared. Naruto was once again in the Hyuga clan compound. Without giving it a second thought, Hinata and Hanabi both barreled into the tall silver haired young man and clung to him tightly (Minato had given Hiashi and Hitomi a simple nod before flashing away).

"Naruto-kun/Onii-sama!" Was happily yelled by the sisters as they relished in finally having their dear Naruto back…

"And who are _they_ Naruto-sama?" The annoyed voice of the previously ignored Haku rang out as everyone noticed that she too was here. And the fact that she had called Naruto, Naruto-_sama_…

"Naruto-kun, why is she calling you 'Naruto-sama'?"

"Who is _she_ onii-sama?"

'_Ohhh… I may not have thought this out as well as I should have…'_ Naruto thought to himself as he was faced with the questioning and angry gazes from both Hyuga sisters and Haku. Off to the side Hiashi and Hitomi were valiantly trying to stifle their laughter at Naruto's current predicament. He always did liven things up whenever he was around…

"**Wow, this is beautiful. HAHAHAHAH!" **Kyuubi's laughter echoed in Naruto's mind as he desperately tried to find a way to explain himself…

***Mizu no Kuni, rebel base***

Zabuza had arrived in Mizu no Kuni recently and was now talking to his younger cousin Mei Terumi. With her charismatic nature and immense strength, Mei handled the rebellion while Zabuza helped fund it (he had far better contacts in the world at large). So far this arrangement had worked out spectacularly and now they were in the final stages of winning the Kiri civil war.

"You know Zabu-nii, you always talk about your daughter and your student when we meet but you've never shown me a picture of either of them. Why is that?" Mei curiously asked as she finished counting the huge sum of money Zabuza had just delivered to her. This would be more than enough to pay for the final preparations…

"Really? Huh. That's odd, I could have sworn I've shown you them before. Well either way, here." Zabuza said distractedly as he fished out a recent photo of Haku and Naruto. Truthfully, Zabuza was worried about them since he had gotten a very bad feeling several days ago that would not fade…

"Hmm, she's beautiful and… Oh my…" Mei said jovially while she looked at Haku before then staring at Naruto. _'That bastard Zabu-nii has been holding out on me! Hiding this beyond handsome fellow! I'll just make sure to 'properly' introduce myself to him when we meet. After all, what student doesn't visit their sensei? Fufufufu…' _Mei thought to herself as she now had a man worthy of her (something she had yet to find in all her twenty four years) in her sight. After she captured Naruto's heart she would rub it in Zabuza's face as he would have to take back all those 'You'll always be alone because your standards are too high!' jokes he loved so damned much…

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**A/N Yep. Next chapter will be rather entertaining to write. Remember, Naruto went from rage to hate to apathy towards his former parents. That bond that should have been forged between them was never that strong to begin with so Naruto doesn't really give much of a shit about them. **

**Will he ever? Find out as the story goes along.**

**Read, Review and Question. I'm taking a nap.**


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